The Rangers did plenty of good things during their six-game, first-round victory over the Canadiens, proving to everybody that they can adapt in the postseason and play a grinding style.

But here was Alain Vigneault on Wednesday one day before his club begins its second-round tilt in Ottawa expressing that his team must be even better this round if they want to get by the stingy Senators.

“I really believe at the end of the day, we had some guys play well against Montreal, but there’s another level to find here,” Vigneault said. “Another level of compete and another level of making plays on the ice that we need to find to be able to beat Ottawa. It’s that simple.”

There’s usually a lot of posturing this time of year, things said regarding favorites and underdogs as coaches find different ways to motivate their players. For example, Vigneault made sure to mention multiple times previously that the Canadiens were favorites during the first round. Gamesmanship is normal this time of year, even if it’s just to have fun during media sessions.

“I know I said it in French that it was mainly to keep you guys busy,” Vigneault said. “It is what it is. Coaches throw things out there. At the end of the day, players from both sides, the white noise that’s out there, when it comes time to play you don’t hear it. You just play.”

J.T. Miller knows he needs to step up his game as the Rangers move into second round vs. Ottawa.

(Seth Wenig/AP)

But Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher has apparently seen plenty of talk about the Rangers being the favored and better team in this second-round matchup, and he was far from subtle in addressing a question Wednesday about what he expects from the Rangers.

“From them? Well, from what I hear from everybody we don’t seem to have much of a chance,” Boucher said. “We’re 10-1 in Vegas against us and everybody seems to think that they’re gonna roll all over us, so I guess they’re a pretty good team.”

It’s true that most prognosticators seem to believe the Rangers will win, yet also true from Vigneault that his club can reach another level when it comes to playmaking.

And the best has yet to be seen this postseason from J.T. Miller, one of the better playmakers the Rangers have who on occasions has issues with high-risk decisions. The 24-year-old, who tied a career-high with 22 goals and set a new career-high with 34 assists, can be a significant difference-maker when his game is going well.

“I thought I had some good games and bad games,” Miller said in evaluating his first round. “I thought once me, (Mats Zuccarello) and (Kevin Hayes) were playing together (beginning with Game 4) we did some good things and established some good habits. I thought we started to learn our tendencies a little more.”

Miller felt at the start of the series he wanted so badly to do something that he was too passive. He also knows things aren’t always going to be perfect.

“I like to make plays,” he said. “It definitely gets me in trouble sometimes because I think I see a lot of stuff on the ice I think I can make happen. I definitely have to read the situation, especially against a team like Ottawa.”

Indeed, because Ottawa’s 1-3-1 trap presents its challenges, but as Henrik Lundqvist said, “At this point there’s no secrets.” Each team knows what the other wants to do, and though the Rangers are confident, they can’t take anything for granted.

“We’ve got to play with some swagger,” Zuccarello said. “We’ve got to go into a hard rink to play in against a good team. We’ve got to be humble here.”